11th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- From: Joseph Esposito <espositoj@[redacted]>
- Subject: 11th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 16:16:49 -0700
The publication of a public domain edition of the 11th edition of
Encyclopaedia Britannica is a milestone in book production, but, alas,
it is not a milestone in publishing or indeed of the enrichment of the
public domain. I was involved with this project from the other side
ten years ago, as the CEO of EB, where I was trying to stop this
monstrosity from happening, but now it has happened, and the world of
learning is no better for it.
To get an easy point out of the way: the 11th edition is in the
public domain and no one can prevent its republication, nor, to my
knowledge, has anyone ever tried. It may be possible to prevent the
EB name, a registered trademark, from being affixed to it, as Michael
Hart of Project Gutenberg assured me it would not be, but I see from
the recent Gutenberg newsletter that this promise is not being
observed by all involved.
What's wrong with the 11th edtion? Two things: it is woefully out of
date, which should be known and appreciated by all involved with this
project, and therefore has no value, or perhaps only negative value,
as a reference work; and secondly, when mounted online it inevitably
will be confused with current editions of EB and other reputable
publications, especially if it bears the famous trademark, which, for
the unsuspecting, will lead to an education into a world before Watson
and Crick and before the redrawing of the borders of Poland umpteen
times. As for the blatantly racist articles, if you can stomach them,
I have no comment.
The 11th ed. is valuable as a historical record of the state of
knowledge in 1910, or at least knowledge according to EB's own
idiosyncracies at that time. (As for its current idiosyncracies,
again, no comment.) Historians interested in these volumes for that
purpose have never had difficulty in getting their hands on them (I
saw the complete set in my local used bookstore priced at $20). An
online edition is a great idea, provided it is authoritatively edited
and published with prominent headnotes on every page/screen, making
the Surgeon General's warnings apparent to the reader. Can we expect
this to be the case as the digital text now flies around the globe
with a mouse-click? I doubt it. This is an irresponsible project,
and I know of no commercial publisher, however overwhelmed by avarice,
who would undertake anything comparable to it.
Joe Esposito
--
Joe Esposito